Driving North in Baja After the Mil

The race is over, fun is through, and now’s the time to drive north to where it’s dark and cold.

But we first have to take a detour to Bahia Agua Verde – a popular and safe anchorage only a day’s sail north of La Paz. The road starts out paved, but then turns to dirt – OK for any high-clearance, two wheel drive vehicle. The road is steep and rocky in places, so the trip takes some time. For a reason, Agua Verde is popular among sailors, but not so much by drivers.

Near the top of the road to Bahia Agua Verde where it crosses a shallow dam over Arroyo Santa Cruz.Looking southeast from the Agua Verde Road to Punta San Cosme.The water on the left is standing water, left by recent hurricane Odile.Looking north of Estero San Cosme along the Sea of Cortez. Taken from right about here.Not much happening at Bahia Agua Verde. Click to embiggen the panorama.

And yet another way to look at Agua Verde – with this photo sphere. Grab it and have a look around.

A quite friendly Agua Verde local. To show that we are sophisticated Americans, we moo’d at him.An early-morning vulture spreads its wings to serve as drying the wings, warming the body, or baking off bacteria.Driving along the Sea of Cortez – lush mangroves in the background.

Looking north toward Gonzaga Bay on the newly graded Highway 5 right-of-way. Soon, this clean dirt will be covered in an oily black substance.A stop at Alfonsina’s for tacos pescado. And maybe just one beer.

The app is called Photo Sphere Camera and it’s a free app from Google, available for Android and iOS.

“Create beautiful, 360º panoramas, and publish them to Google Maps. Explore a global map of other public photo spheres too. At up to 50 megapixels, these high resolution photo spheres let you to look up, down, and all around to revisit the amazing places you and others have visited. Note: the iPhone 4 cannot create photo spheres.”